Research & MA/PHD Programs

Research & MA/PHD Programs

The PhD program in public administration and policy at the University of Georgia is designed to prepare students for leading careers in teaching, research, and public service. The program has a strong research orientation and maintains high standards in the admission and evaluation of students.

The PhD in Political Science and International Affairs is administered jointly by the Departments of Political Science and International Affairs and is designed for students who wish to study politics in its many forms, but who also want to develop the analytic skills necessary to achieve mastery in their areas of study. The degree offers the opportunity to specialize in international relations, comparative politics, American politics, or political theory (including methodology).

SPIA faculty members are experts in a diverse range of fields from American Political Institutions to International & Human Security to Public Policy Process & Implementation. For a full directory of our faculty and their areas of expertise, click here.

Transcript

So the School of Public and International Affairs has two PhD programs. One is in political science and international affairs. We also have PhD in public administration.

Our faculty are doing a lot of interesting research on a wide variety of topics. Everything from the environment, and environment governance in the Amazon basin, to things like gender bias in India. And all of our faculty members are research active. They’re all doing really exciting things. It’s a lot different than a lot of other departments where only about a third to a half of faculty members are research active.

So one of the things that we try to do as faculty here at SPI is very early on in students’ experiences get students involved in our research. And so what we want to do is have them leave here with the most firm foundation they can have to not only be great teachers but also to be people whose research has an impact on the world.

The majority of our PhD students, upon the completion of their degree, go on to work as professors at other universities. And we’ve been placing students at a variety of universities recently. Some of them are at large universities, like the University of Georgia. We also place students in smaller liberal arts school settings. And so there is a variety of focuses on teaching and research that our students have when they leave here.